The present invention relates to a bear trap having a main trap door with a trigger mechanism that is tripped to close the main trap door and capture whatever is inside at the time the trigger was activated. The main trap door has an automatic braking system. The system will activate when an object is detected in the path of the door when it is falling to the closed position. This system will automatically stop the door from falling until the object has moved out of the path of the falling door.
Live animal traps are well known such as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,080,749 to Gilbaugh and U.S. Pat. No. 5,199,210 to Nastas. These animal traps include a rectangular cage closed at one end and having a trap door for closing the open end of the trap when an animal seizes the bait located inside the trap.
The present invention is directed to a large animal trap such as for trapping bears. The trap door used with this trap is very heavy, weighing approximately 80-100 pounds. When the trap door falls under the influence of gravity to close the trap, anything in the trap opening will be hit by the trap door. It has been known that when a mother bear enters the trap, cubs may also follow the mother into the trap. If the trap door falls on the cub, the cub will be severely injured. Further, if a person were located in the opening, and the trap door released accidentally, the person could be severely injured as well.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a bear trap having a safety door which will automatically stop downward movement when an object is detected in the path of the door.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a bear trap having apparatus for lifting the trap door from a location away from the trap thereby avoiding injury when one gets too close to the trap where a captured animal can scratch or bite.